Wargaming Minitaures and Terrain Modeling for Scenics you can make! Pictures can be Clicked on to Enlarge.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Fire Escapes 101, how to

Couple of requests on How I made the Fire Escapes so here goes.

Start with 1 sheet of Darico 7 Mesh which comes in 10.5 in x 13.5 in size, they have larger but this sheet will produce probably more than you will ever need for fire escapes. I purchased it from Joann's, though Michaels and other craft supply shops carry it, in a variety of colors and overall sizes. I picked the BLACK sheet so as to avoid trying to paint it and miss endless corners and inside corner spots....

Here I've made the first cuts for all the pieces. Basic floor is 2 inches wide. Set your proposed side wall piece next to a typical miniature you will be using and determine the "waist" height you prefer.
To clean off the stud ends on the basic cuts I used a pair of scissors and snipped away to clear them all.

Cutting the "Bars" is a process I used an xacto knife, place the tip in the spot for the first cut and slowly pull it down through all but the last cross bar, move it over to the other side of the bar and pull and cut all but the last bar, move to the other side of the bar and repeat.

You can flip the pieces over and trim any remaining bits a little more if you care to. I shaved off maybe 6 to 10 additional rough parts on the back of the bars.

So now your going to prepare to hot glue the pieces together. Hot glue and slick rubbery plastic are not friends to each other.... So... I apply a very thin amount to all 4 the base platform rail sides and then use the side of the hot glue gun snout to run the edge of the platform across to really smear it on the leading edges, then set aside and repeat on the side wall pieces, though I did not smear the top "hand rail" side. This wiping effect makes sure the hot glue is

A: Thinly applied
B: the front, upper front edge and bottom edge of the plastic bar is now coated.
C: the smearing it on the hot snout of the gun prevents it from cooling to quickly

At this point you can cut a ladder access hole or wait till the side walls are on. I did the first ones by waiting but now that I have the size and placement down I can pre cut them while its unassembled.

Now to assemble it. Hot glue the leading Top edge of the Base plate and immediately set the top hand rail piece in place with a bit of a push to set it. The side rail piece I put the hot glue on the inside edge of the 2 sides that will contact the base plate/front rail and push it on to the Out side edge of the base plate/front rail. (won't fit if you try to top mount it) and repeat with the other side. Almost done... now use the hot glue gun to fill gaps with a Small amount of hot glue and finish by using the side of the hot glue gun snout to wipe the seams to smooth them down and remove excess hot glue.

Ladders are cut as shown. The size scale of it would be roughly 2 feet wide.